7 ms·

Show HN: Workstation – Showcase Your Setup

206 points by dope 7y ago

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
bovermyer 7y ago
The battlestations subreddit has a lot of really epic setups.
- dope 7y ago
  It really does! It's massively inspired by that subreddit and /r/macsetups too. I wanted to create this to hopefully fill the gaps a little when talking about your setup in detail. It's a very early Alpha so it isn't very feature rich but planning to build on this more in the future.
- mhd 7y ago
  Most of those I saw were pretty much the same. Towers with windows and those ugly LED wall triangles, often aiming for a "vaporwave"/CGA look. There was definitely more variety when beige cases were the rule and you had to paint and dremel things yourselves…
- unixhero 7y ago
  And /r/retrobattlestations !
- eps 7y ago
  There also used to be deskography.org
- SexyCyborg 7y ago
  r/cyberDeck/
burnt1ce 7y ago
This is a refreshing fun project. What are your plans for this site if you don't mind me asking?
- dope 7y ago
  Thanks! It started as a conversation between a friend mostly off the back off /r/battlestations and how I'd love to be able to see more of peoples setups. Initial steps where just to throw something together to allow people to upload multiple setups and view others. Next steps on the roadmap - Multiple image upload support - Like setups - Build collections out of setups - Search (tags, product names, setup titles etc) - Tagging products on setups (like how Facebook does but you know, respect peoples data etc) Later later steps would probably be allowing the user to build collections out of popular products that get uploaded.
mej10 7y ago
Cool! I am working on almost the exact same thing. Grats on shipping!
fisherwithac 7y ago
As a computer hardware nerd, I'm always down for a good build sharing site. And for an alpha, you seem to have gotten the basics down. I'm curious, though, what this will bring to the table that other sites like Builds GG[0] or PCPartPicker[1] don't currently offer. I would assume including information about the desk and lighting setup? I'd like to know what's on the roadmap for features and sucj. Best of luck! [0] https://builds.gg/ https://builds.gg/ [1] https://pcpartpicker.com/ https://pcpartpicker.com/
kevinherron 7y ago
Weird, no images load for me on this site.
iraldir 7y ago
Images aren't loading (anymore I guess) Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 402 (Payment Required) relevant commit strip: http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2019/05/20/monitoring-everything/ http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2019/05/20/monitoring-everythi...
- dope 7y ago
  Haha - that strip is perfect. but yes, fixed!
calcifer 7y ago
Unfortunately, all the images are returning "402: Payment Required" for me [1]. [1] https://i.imgur.com/WWuN4Tw.png https://i.imgur.com/WWuN4Tw.png
- dope 7y ago
  Thanks for sending that over - fixed now!
  - zrobotics 7y ago
    Just an FYI- there was goatse as the 3rd image when I loaded the site, username was also goatse. You'll probably want to remove that.
dope 7y ago
Working on the image fix now slowly dying inside Edit: Fixed!
wa1987 7y ago
Something's up with the retrieval of images. Getting errors (402 status code) from Firebase storage / Google. — EDIT: seems to be fixed! Fun project though! What are your plans with it? Like to hear about your ideas. Some – unsolicited – suggestions (feel free to ignore): - describing (primary) usage(s) – e.g. workstation, gaming, web dev, music, audio, etc. - describing setup components by selecting items from a parts list - adding benchmark results - filtering / searching setups by varying properties - breaking down components even further.. there's a huge community around mechanical keyboards for example, these come in all kinds of shapes.. users may have desires along the lines of: "I'd like to see setups with wireless 60% keyboards" - listing similar setups ("if you like this, you might like..") - capturing setup updates (and displaying VCS-style diffs :-)) - recently updated systems - in the same vein: build logs - image annotations - up- / downvoting - comments Fun stuff to come up with.
- dope 7y ago
  These are great suggestions, thank you and it's exactly what I've posted it for tbh - It feels like this project could have endless possibilities but I also want to know what others care about too. My next steps (I posted below but happy to post here too) - Multiple image upload support - Like setups - Build collections out of setups - Search (tags, product names, setup titles etc) - Tagging products on setups (like how Facebook does but you know, respect peoples data etc) I think after that or even during, I'll need to definitely come up with a more structured roadmap. Again, thank you for the suggestions!
  - novok 7y ago
    +1 for comments. Would like to be able to ask questions.
xwdv 7y ago
Cool, but I’m sad that a picture of my “workstation” is basically just a Thinkpad.
- 781 7y ago
  Pfff, amateur. My "workstation" is just an iPad.
  - dope 7y ago
    This would still be cool to upload imo :)
- NikolaNovak 7y ago
  Mmmmm, Thinkpads :-)
- themacguffinman 7y ago
  The computer itself isn't the only interesting part of a workstation setup, your desk layout can be pretty interesting too
  - xwdv 7y ago
    Just a bare desk and an occasional smart phone next to the laptop :(
maxaf 7y ago
Please tell me you're stripping EXIF tags from all images; otherwise this is just a "rob these people now" list.
- OberstKrueger 7y ago
  First image I checked for this, full EXIF data is intact, including GPS data.
  - arendtio 7y ago
    Kinda surprising, as many web-applications forget to add that meta-data after e.g. resizing photos. Still, not a good idea to upload pictures with GPS data to an online service (unintentionally).
    - sitkack 7y ago
      iOS includes it by default.
      - tomjakubowski 7y ago
        It disappoints me that there apparently isn't an option on iOS to track photo location using some scheme other than EXIF. I really like being able to organize photos by location on my phone, but I dislike relying on image hosts and social networks to strip EXIF data when I post them to the web. Couldn't iOS store locations for photos it's taken out of band, in a sqlite db or something?
        whenchamenia 7y ago
        You can strip your own exif, there are many apps. Do not trust anyone else to do so, or not to keep that data for themselves even when they do. Cougfhaceboockough.
        fyfy18 7y ago
        So iOS does it one way, Android does it another, and your old DSLR still stores data in EXIF? Sounds like a great way to be locked into a certain vendor.
bitwize 7y ago
Soooo... everybody's a neat freak with a Ph.D. in cable management.
- Harvey-Specter 7y ago
  Might be a little bit of self selection bias going on here.
- codingdave 7y ago
  Everyone willing to post their photo, at least. My hardware setup isn't that different than images, but I have 2 laptops KVMed to one monitor and the resulting pile of cables. I have no desire for the world to see my chaos, or my messy office, or my pile of diet mountain dew cans, because somehow admitting to such vices on HN is OK, but documenting them via a photo feels wrong.
- linux2647 7y ago
  Not here: https://workstation.is/station/vbNm9bew5artQwD02SqW https://workstation.is/station/vbNm9bew5artQwD02SqW
  - wishiwasaninja 7y ago
    This is the best keyboard I've ever used.
- rchaud 7y ago
  You see the same principle behind people's Instagrams. People shoot, re-shoot and meticulously edit their uploads so they're as flawless as possible. I think Reddit has something called 'r/shittybattlestations' as a joke sub to counter the deluge of samey "minimal IKEA desk w/ hyper-expensive equipment" content on the main subs.
sbr464 7y ago
Great idea. I used to be active on the CGTalk forum back in the day and always loved the workstation threads.
aaronarduino 7y ago
This is a cool idea. One suggestion though, it would be nice when viewing a setup to be able to use arrow keys to advance to the next setup.
vmurthy 7y ago
As a regular visitor on /r/macsetups, I find your site's navigation cool! I look forward to more setups :-)
vijucat 7y ago
Suggestion: a) let the user add their commentary and b) get folks to mention which chair, too. Some of us invest in ergonomic chairs, and those who don't would benefit from opinions on which chairs are good For what it's worth, I got this chair recently (a Torch Iris Gold) in Hong Kong, and found it incredible value for money, at least compared to a Herman Miller Aeron, Mirra etc; : it has a bunch of adjustments that the Aeron and Mirra do not. Obviously, this advice isn't that useful if you're not in Hong Kong. https://shop.freemax.com.hk/eng/product/%E9%9B%BB%E8%85%A6%E6%A4%85-office-chairs-torch-iris-gold https://shop.freemax.com.hk/eng/product/%E9%9B%BB%E8%85%A6%E...
- augstein 7y ago
  Indeed. Added my setup just now, comments (and votes) would make this much more interesting. Also please fix scrolling in the submission form on mobile (iOS) with the -webkit-overflow-scrolling CSS property.
tzfld 7y ago
All seem to be nice and ordered places, which is definitely not my case.
raehik 7y ago
A nice setup is something I'm really, really looking forward to once my student life is over. So I can't upvote this, viewing it makes me too sad :'(
PascLeRasc 7y ago
If anyone's really into "setups", I'd highly recommend checking out usesthis.com. There's some great discussion on why people like certain tools, and some high-profile people on there from all walks of tech life (writers, podcasters, musicians, mechanical engineers). Here's a few of my favorites: Aaron Schwartz: https://usesthis.com/interviews/aaron.swartz/ https://usesthis.com/interviews/aaron.swartz/ Mike Hoye (Mozilla): https://usesthis.com/interviews/mhoye/ https://usesthis.com/interviews/mhoye/ Drew DeVault: https://usesthis.com/interviews/drew.devault/ https://usesthis.com/interviews/drew.devault/ Naomi Wu: https://usesthis.com/interviews/naomi.wu/ https://usesthis.com/interviews/naomi.wu/
- weka 7y ago
  Thanks!
- dijit 7y ago
  The improvements section/conclusion in Aaron Schwartz article is actually very possible today. >I wish all my hard drives were consolidated onto one big drive. I wish I had SoundSticks. I wish my G1 was much, much faster. I wish that Terminal would have built-in support for screen so that different screens would appear as tabs and it would auto-reconnect. I wish that there was decent todo management software that deeply integrated with my email. I wish that everyone had perfectionist levels of attention to detail. Phones are much, much faster, NAS’s (synology for example) allow you to merge a whole bunch of drives on a network. And Iterm is integrated with tmux, which makes it feel supremely native. Not sure about the todo or attention to detail though.
  - daniel-cussen 7y ago
    Org mode is a great answer for the todo wish.
  - daniel_iversen 7y ago
    I think most “to do” / productivity software integrstes with email these days (ie Asana has plugins for both GMail and Outlook and I think lots do), and slightly related emails has also become more easily “actionable” when Mailbox created the whole “swipe to action” email gestures that Apple and google then learned from etc.
ssalka 7y ago
How is this different from /r/battlestations?
jswrenn 7y ago
You have a NSFW image in there...
- phragg 7y ago
  yeah seriously... RIP my job - waiting for that ASK HN: Who's hiring June 2019 edition.
benbristow 7y ago
Seems to be gore/porn on the frontpage... perhaps some moderation wouldn't be a bad idea?
- jolmg 7y ago
  Jesus! NSFW!!
lkschubert8 7y ago
Might need some moderation as an image in the first row was about as NSFW as could possibly be and not remotely related to computers.
- isolli 7y ago
  Flag it!
  - lkschubert8 7y ago
    I backed out quickly and don't intend to go back as I am at work and I don't think it would look great if someone walked by with that on my screen.
    - isolli 7y ago
      I meant: flag it here in HN. That's what I did...
      - benatkin 7y ago
        I suppose that's appropriate. HN's moderators can bring it back once they remove it and put a hold on new submissions until they fix it.
        sctb 7y ago
        OK, we've turned off the flags now. Thanks!
- rsync 7y ago
  It is simultaneously depressing and delightful that you've got goatse on the first page.
  - benatkin 7y ago
    indeed. classic. i never have and never would never post goatse so i don't actually condone others posting it though.
Dennip 7y ago
Very NSFW image has been added
SnowingXIV 7y ago
You might want to consider adding some form of moderation. Viewed this at work and some very classic nsfw images were uploaded instead of workstations.
phragg 7y ago
wow nice goatse on the front page...
porbelm 7y ago
Thanks for the goatse lol
brachi 7y ago
oh, great, first image it's extremely explicit NSFW. I guess there's no moderation nor machine learning to check the upload.
meroje 7y ago
Nice nsfw frontpage
jolmg 7y ago
I was expecting this to be about software customization, but I guess not. BTW, what is that on the wall below the desk on the 2nd picture? I'm not even sure how to describe it. It looks like a cat door with 4 mini laundry baskets stacked on one another and like a plastic bag in a hole on the top. What is that?
- hotsauceror 7y ago
  It looks like an old fashioned natural gas heater? My grandmas house had something very similar, it was like a little decorated alcove with an open natural gas flame in it. The bag at the top probably covers what used to be an old vent or something?
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  Victorian (probably) bedroom coal fireplace that's been painted over. There's even a few hearth tiles still in front of it. Random image of a restored one: https://www.oldfireplaces.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/256B-1168-1024x7681.jpg https://www.oldfireplaces.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2...
ChristianBundy 7y ago
The first image on this page is goatse and there's no way to report an image. What's your plan for content moderation?
huntie 7y ago
First thing I see is goatse. Nice.
kellygarvy 7y ago
Oh man you may want to make sure you are monitoring for bad actors. Really didn't need to see that before hopping on a call.
ikarandeep 7y ago
NSFW
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
c3534l 7y ago
It's been a long time since I've been linked to goatse.
jberry93 7y ago
I was greeted with an extremely NSFW picture but it seems to be gone for now. Not sure how to guard against that except to be vigilant in deleting such images. Love the website though! Reminds me of /r/battlestations on reddit
- benatkin 7y ago
  I think it's currently technically feasible on top-of-the-line phones to implement real time nudity detection and hiding by default. I can see it being a solved problem in 5 years. Maybe it will display at first but be blacked out after a few milliseconds.
  - vmurthy 7y ago
    I sure hope this blocking thing is opt-in ;-). How will adu.. ahem .. entertainment websites live otherwise ?
    - benatkin 7y ago
      I imagine it will be like SafeSearch on google and bing, where it's opt-out.
dope 7y ago
Sorry for the NSFW image, it's been removed. Also temporarily removed the ability to add a station while I figure out next steps.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
grumpy-cowboy 7y ago
There is a lot of "fake" workstations: everything is so clean! No Fritos bag, no Coke bottles, no paper, no trash, ... just clean desks! Fake! lol :D
- DRW_ 7y ago
  Not everyone lives like slobs ;)
- 781 7y ago
  Here you go: https://workstation.is/station/4s1IHxshFb4BrTxTHjeG https://workstation.is/station/4s1IHxshFb4BrTxTHjeG
  - wafflesraccoon 7y ago
    Did you draw the figure drawing on the wall? It is wonderful.
    - DoreenMichele 7y ago
      It's also kind of NSFW. Hello, haters. A NSFW warning is a detail of etiquette on the internet. It has nothing to do with being judgy about the content. It is solely about protecting someone's job while they surf the internet. Thanks.
- daniel_iversen 7y ago
  Actually I don’t think that’s the case! I find keeping my workspace relatively beautiful and clean (in my eyes - I’m sure it’s still a little bit messy by some standards) makes me feel better and more productive - and I think there’s science somewhere as well that says that messy work places adds to stress (I think the last place I saw it mentioned was in the book Deep Work, but it’s been known for ages).
- hermitdev 7y ago
  At a previous job, when I was working on a complete rewrite of a critical backend financial data system for a hedge fund, I had a massive tower of empty mountain dew cans on my desk. It nearly reached the ceiling and was probably around 30 cans at the base. I had to stand on my deal to add new cans. It stood as a monument to all of the sugar and caffeine I consumed on the project (I was planning on taking it down post release). Sadly, CEO was bringing some investors around and was mortified, and I was ordered to take it down. I didn't receive any backlash beyond bring told to take it down. Also, sadly no photos exist as it was against company policy. It Took something around 2.5 50 gallon garbage bags to dispose of. Today, my desk is spotless. Just a notepad and pen on it when I go home at night.
otterpro 7y ago
How do I upload my own setup photo? I see nothing under profile or on the website itself.
- dope 7y ago
  I had some trouble earlier with people uploading dumb images, so in order to upload images now, you need to verify your email address. There should be messaging at the bottom of the screen and I probably need to make that design clearer.
galfarragem 7y ago
While I think this is cool (workstation porn :), it seems an overkill, you could achieve most (if not all) with a simple tumblr blog/account. Even NSFW upload protection and affiliate marketing. Aren't you folks tired of so many accounts?
vishnuks 7y ago
Awesome. A feature suggestion. Add option for users to enter details of their laptop, keyboard, mouse model etc when they submit the photo. You can probably create a rank list of popular gear from this. Also can link the gear to Amazon and make some money via referral links ;)
technological 7y ago
I wish something like this exists for UI or work bench setup. How people work with different screens and how editor or other tools setup
arendtio 7y ago
I am a bit surprised there is no vertical multi-monitor setup there yet. I have my 2nd monitor above my first since a few years now and I don't want to go back to the traditional horizontal layout. The only thing I might change is adding more monitors or increasing sizes, but that isn't really a priority as I tend to have enough space most of the time. However, I love the idea, of this site as the photos offer a better impression of the work experience in those places (e.g. compared to usesthis.com).
- istjohn 7y ago
  I tried a vertical monitor for a day once, but I found I ended up holding my head at an uncomfortably high angle too much.
  - filoleg 7y ago
    Try using a monitor arm and angle that monitor in such a way at such a height, that you would not have to adjust your head along the vertical axis. It only works with monitors up to a certain size, though, which is the biggest limitation.
  - arendtio 7y ago
    Actually, my lower monitor is my primary monitor for my desktop PC. But for a while, I used a similar setup with a Thinkpad as my lower monitor and that worked just fine for me too even though I used the large upper monitor as the primary monitor then.
- phyrex 7y ago
  Could you explain why you like this better than a traditional multi monitor layout? And how wouldit compare to vertical monitors horizontally next to each other?
  - filoleg 7y ago
    For reading longer articles/text or even just code, I prefer it vastly. My current (work) setup is one landscape monitor in the middle and two portrait mode monitors on the sides. The only change I would personally make is add another landscape monitor right above my current one.
alexott 7y ago
It’s interesting to see that’s there are not so much systems with ergonomic keyboards mice... Are people underestimate importance of that?
- bsmith 7y ago
  I don't use an ergonomic mouse. I am using my keyboard probably ~20x more than my mouse, so it just doesn't seem that important. Mostly I am using my mouse to scroll around and navigate webpages, but when coding it's mostly Vim, tabbing between windows, typing commands in the terminal, etc...
  - alexott 7y ago
    it was about keyboard/mice :-) I'm pretty much switching between stuff using keyboard, and mouse is mostly for "fine" scrolling, selection of bookmarks, and links, in most cases just page up/page down
- SamReidHughes 7y ago
  There are other ways to deal with that, like physical conditioning. Ergonomic keyboards don't cut it when you need to carry a laptop.
pkaye 7y ago
I wish the cabling could be made a little neater with desktop setups. Power cables, video cables, USB cables. I use a KVM so even more cables. Hopefully Thunderbolt/USB4 will simplify things a bit in the future.
sureaboutthis 7y ago
This has been around for years and you'll spend just as long trying to find something worth looking at and, perhaps, replicating. Most of them are just as drab and dreary as you'll find making the site, to some extent, pointless without doing any vetting for something unique.
heroHACK17 7y ago
I love the single-screen setup. I have tried dual-monitors, laptop + monitor, etc., but found that everything else on the screen is just a distraction. Most of the time I'll just work on my laptop or plug in a monitor & close my laptop!
- codyb 7y ago
  That’s me as well.
chair6 7y ago
Suggestion - one-click navigation from one setup to the next would be nice, instead of having to click back, reload the list, and choose another...
codr7 7y ago
Heh, I feel very tempted to go all in with pictures. After 15 years of using nothing but the latest and greatest, I'm now stuck with a refurbished HP desktop that smells like burned plastic and an arbitrary collection of questionable-quality accessories on top of a retired kitchen table with a garden chair to sit on. And the only thing that really bothers me is that the computer might stop working any second and I can't afford a new one. Life moves in mysterious ways :)
Koshkin 7y ago
Not much to see there... (No wonder, when in a movie they want to destroy a computer, they attack the screen.)
ukyrgf 7y ago
Hey, another site that was built on a Mac and not tested on anything else. So, Avenir Next is not a system font on Windows or Linux. On Windows, this means you get the browser's default stylesheet fallback, which means Times New Roman. So your site essentially looks like a Word 97 document to all your Windows visitors, and who-knows-what on the various Linux distros. Take a look at https://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/system-font-stack/ https://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/system-font-stack/ https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/11/using-system-ui-fonts-practical-guide/ https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/11/using-system-ui-fon... and get yourself looking correct for those non-macOS users! What did you use to build that stylesheet? A framework of some sort?
- dope 7y ago
  Fixed! Thank you for flagging that. I'm actually just using custom CSS files per component pulling in a global variables.css file.
neoktheone 7y ago
I would like to see likes :)

206 points by dope 7y ago

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

bovermyer 7y ago

The battlestations subreddit has a lot of really epic setups.

dope 7y ago
It really does! It's massively inspired by that subreddit and /r/macsetups too. I wanted to create this to hopefully fill the gaps a little when talking about your setup in detail. It's a very early Alpha so it isn't very feature rich but planning to build on this more in the future.
mhd 7y ago
Most of those I saw were pretty much the same. Towers with windows and those ugly LED wall triangles, often aiming for a "vaporwave"/CGA look. There was definitely more variety when beige cases were the rule and you had to paint and dremel things yourselves…
unixhero 7y ago
And /r/retrobattlestations !
eps 7y ago
There also used to be deskography.org
SexyCyborg 7y ago
r/cyberDeck/

burnt1ce 7y ago

This is a refreshing fun project. What are your plans for this site if you don't mind me asking?

dope 7y ago
Thanks! It started as a conversation between a friend mostly off the back off /r/battlestations and how I'd love to be able to see more of peoples setups. Initial steps where just to throw something together to allow people to upload multiple setups and view others. Next steps on the roadmap - Multiple image upload support - Like setups - Build collections out of setups - Search (tags, product names, setup titles etc) - Tagging products on setups (like how Facebook does but you know, respect peoples data etc) Later later steps would probably be allowing the user to build collections out of popular products that get uploaded.

mej10 7y ago

Cool! I am working on almost the exact same thing. Grats on shipping!

fisherwithac 7y ago

As a computer hardware nerd, I'm always down for a good build sharing site. And for an alpha, you seem to have gotten the basics down. I'm curious, though, what this will bring to the table that other sites like Builds GG[0] or PCPartPicker[1] don't currently offer. I would assume including information about the desk and lighting setup? I'd like to know what's on the roadmap for features and sucj. Best of luck! [0] https://builds.gg/ https://builds.gg/ [1] https://pcpartpicker.com/ https://pcpartpicker.com/

kevinherron 7y ago

Weird, no images load for me on this site.

iraldir 7y ago

Images aren't loading (anymore I guess) Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 402 (Payment Required) relevant commit strip: http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2019/05/20/monitoring-everything/ http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2019/05/20/monitoring-everythi...

dope 7y ago
Haha - that strip is perfect. but yes, fixed!

calcifer 7y ago

Unfortunately, all the images are returning "402: Payment Required" for me [1]. [1] https://i.imgur.com/WWuN4Tw.png https://i.imgur.com/WWuN4Tw.png

dope 7y ago
Thanks for sending that over - fixed now!
- zrobotics 7y ago
  Just an FYI- there was goatse as the 3rd image when I loaded the site, username was also goatse. You'll probably want to remove that.

dope 7y ago

Working on the image fix now slowly dying inside Edit: Fixed!

wa1987 7y ago

Something's up with the retrieval of images. Getting errors (402 status code) from Firebase storage / Google. — EDIT: seems to be fixed! Fun project though! What are your plans with it? Like to hear about your ideas. Some – unsolicited – suggestions (feel free to ignore): - describing (primary) usage(s) – e.g. workstation, gaming, web dev, music, audio, etc. - describing setup components by selecting items from a parts list - adding benchmark results - filtering / searching setups by varying properties - breaking down components even further.. there's a huge community around mechanical keyboards for example, these come in all kinds of shapes.. users may have desires along the lines of: "I'd like to see setups with wireless 60% keyboards" - listing similar setups ("if you like this, you might like..") - capturing setup updates (and displaying VCS-style diffs :-)) - recently updated systems - in the same vein: build logs - image annotations - up- / downvoting - comments Fun stuff to come up with.

dope 7y ago
These are great suggestions, thank you and it's exactly what I've posted it for tbh - It feels like this project could have endless possibilities but I also want to know what others care about too. My next steps (I posted below but happy to post here too) - Multiple image upload support - Like setups - Build collections out of setups - Search (tags, product names, setup titles etc) - Tagging products on setups (like how Facebook does but you know, respect peoples data etc) I think after that or even during, I'll need to definitely come up with a more structured roadmap. Again, thank you for the suggestions!
- novok 7y ago
  +1 for comments. Would like to be able to ask questions.

xwdv 7y ago

Cool, but I’m sad that a picture of my “workstation” is basically just a Thinkpad.

781 7y ago
Pfff, amateur. My "workstation" is just an iPad.
- dope 7y ago
  This would still be cool to upload imo :)
NikolaNovak 7y ago
Mmmmm, Thinkpads :-)
themacguffinman 7y ago
The computer itself isn't the only interesting part of a workstation setup, your desk layout can be pretty interesting too
- xwdv 7y ago
  Just a bare desk and an occasional smart phone next to the laptop :(

maxaf 7y ago

Please tell me you're stripping EXIF tags from all images; otherwise this is just a "rob these people now" list.

OberstKrueger 7y ago
First image I checked for this, full EXIF data is intact, including GPS data.
- arendtio 7y ago
  Kinda surprising, as many web-applications forget to add that meta-data after e.g. resizing photos. Still, not a good idea to upload pictures with GPS data to an online service (unintentionally).
  - sitkack 7y ago
    iOS includes it by default.
    - tomjakubowski 7y ago
      It disappoints me that there apparently isn't an option on iOS to track photo location using some scheme other than EXIF. I really like being able to organize photos by location on my phone, but I dislike relying on image hosts and social networks to strip EXIF data when I post them to the web. Couldn't iOS store locations for photos it's taken out of band, in a sqlite db or something?
      - whenchamenia 7y ago
        You can strip your own exif, there are many apps. Do not trust anyone else to do so, or not to keep that data for themselves even when they do. Cougfhaceboockough.
      - fyfy18 7y ago
        So iOS does it one way, Android does it another, and your old DSLR still stores data in EXIF? Sounds like a great way to be locked into a certain vendor.

bitwize 7y ago

Soooo... everybody's a neat freak with a Ph.D. in cable management.

Harvey-Specter 7y ago
Might be a little bit of self selection bias going on here.
codingdave 7y ago
Everyone willing to post their photo, at least. My hardware setup isn't that different than images, but I have 2 laptops KVMed to one monitor and the resulting pile of cables. I have no desire for the world to see my chaos, or my messy office, or my pile of diet mountain dew cans, because somehow admitting to such vices on HN is OK, but documenting them via a photo feels wrong.
linux2647 7y ago
Not here: https://workstation.is/station/vbNm9bew5artQwD02SqW https://workstation.is/station/vbNm9bew5artQwD02SqW
- wishiwasaninja 7y ago
  This is the best keyboard I've ever used.
rchaud 7y ago
You see the same principle behind people's Instagrams. People shoot, re-shoot and meticulously edit their uploads so they're as flawless as possible. I think Reddit has something called 'r/shittybattlestations' as a joke sub to counter the deluge of samey "minimal IKEA desk w/ hyper-expensive equipment" content on the main subs.

sbr464 7y ago

Great idea. I used to be active on the CGTalk forum back in the day and always loved the workstation threads.

aaronarduino 7y ago

This is a cool idea. One suggestion though, it would be nice when viewing a setup to be able to use arrow keys to advance to the next setup.

vmurthy 7y ago

As a regular visitor on /r/macsetups, I find your site's navigation cool! I look forward to more setups :-)

vijucat 7y ago

Suggestion: a) let the user add their commentary and b) get folks to mention which chair, too. Some of us invest in ergonomic chairs, and those who don't would benefit from opinions on which chairs are good For what it's worth, I got this chair recently (a Torch Iris Gold) in Hong Kong, and found it incredible value for money, at least compared to a Herman Miller Aeron, Mirra etc; : it has a bunch of adjustments that the Aeron and Mirra do not. Obviously, this advice isn't that useful if you're not in Hong Kong. https://shop.freemax.com.hk/eng/product/%E9%9B%BB%E8%85%A6%E6%A4%85-office-chairs-torch-iris-gold https://shop.freemax.com.hk/eng/product/%E9%9B%BB%E8%85%A6%E...

augstein 7y ago
Indeed. Added my setup just now, comments (and votes) would make this much more interesting. Also please fix scrolling in the submission form on mobile (iOS) with the -webkit-overflow-scrolling CSS property.

tzfld 7y ago

All seem to be nice and ordered places, which is definitely not my case.

raehik 7y ago

A nice setup is something I'm really, really looking forward to once my student life is over. So I can't upvote this, viewing it makes me too sad :'(

PascLeRasc 7y ago

If anyone's really into "setups", I'd highly recommend checking out usesthis.com. There's some great discussion on why people like certain tools, and some high-profile people on there from all walks of tech life (writers, podcasters, musicians, mechanical engineers). Here's a few of my favorites: Aaron Schwartz: https://usesthis.com/interviews/aaron.swartz/ https://usesthis.com/interviews/aaron.swartz/ Mike Hoye (Mozilla): https://usesthis.com/interviews/mhoye/ https://usesthis.com/interviews/mhoye/ Drew DeVault: https://usesthis.com/interviews/drew.devault/ https://usesthis.com/interviews/drew.devault/ Naomi Wu: https://usesthis.com/interviews/naomi.wu/ https://usesthis.com/interviews/naomi.wu/

weka 7y ago
Thanks!
dijit 7y ago
The improvements section/conclusion in Aaron Schwartz article is actually very possible today. >I wish all my hard drives were consolidated onto one big drive. I wish I had SoundSticks. I wish my G1 was much, much faster. I wish that Terminal would have built-in support for screen so that different screens would appear as tabs and it would auto-reconnect. I wish that there was decent todo management software that deeply integrated with my email. I wish that everyone had perfectionist levels of attention to detail. Phones are much, much faster, NAS’s (synology for example) allow you to merge a whole bunch of drives on a network. And Iterm is integrated with tmux, which makes it feel supremely native. Not sure about the todo or attention to detail though.
- daniel-cussen 7y ago
  Org mode is a great answer for the todo wish.
- daniel_iversen 7y ago
  I think most “to do” / productivity software integrstes with email these days (ie Asana has plugins for both GMail and Outlook and I think lots do), and slightly related emails has also become more easily “actionable” when Mailbox created the whole “swipe to action” email gestures that Apple and google then learned from etc.

ssalka 7y ago

How is this different from /r/battlestations?

jswrenn 7y ago

You have a NSFW image in there...

phragg 7y ago
yeah seriously... RIP my job - waiting for that ASK HN: Who's hiring June 2019 edition.

benbristow 7y ago

Seems to be gore/porn on the frontpage... perhaps some moderation wouldn't be a bad idea?

jolmg 7y ago
Jesus! NSFW!!

lkschubert8 7y ago

Might need some moderation as an image in the first row was about as NSFW as could possibly be and not remotely related to computers.

isolli 7y ago
Flag it!
- lkschubert8 7y ago
  I backed out quickly and don't intend to go back as I am at work and I don't think it would look great if someone walked by with that on my screen.
  - isolli 7y ago
    I meant: flag it here in HN. That's what I did...
    - benatkin 7y ago
      I suppose that's appropriate. HN's moderators can bring it back once they remove it and put a hold on new submissions until they fix it.
      - sctb 7y ago
        OK, we've turned off the flags now. Thanks!
rsync 7y ago
It is simultaneously depressing and delightful that you've got goatse on the first page.
- benatkin 7y ago
  indeed. classic. i never have and never would never post goatse so i don't actually condone others posting it though.

Dennip 7y ago

Very NSFW image has been added

SnowingXIV 7y ago

You might want to consider adding some form of moderation. Viewed this at work and some very classic nsfw images were uploaded instead of workstations.

phragg 7y ago

wow nice goatse on the front page...

porbelm 7y ago

Thanks for the goatse lol

brachi 7y ago

oh, great, first image it's extremely explicit NSFW. I guess there's no moderation nor machine learning to check the upload.

meroje 7y ago

Nice nsfw frontpage

jolmg 7y ago

I was expecting this to be about software customization, but I guess not. BTW, what is that on the wall below the desk on the 2nd picture? I'm not even sure how to describe it. It looks like a cat door with 4 mini laundry baskets stacked on one another and like a plastic bag in a hole on the top. What is that?

hotsauceror 7y ago
It looks like an old fashioned natural gas heater? My grandmas house had something very similar, it was like a little decorated alcove with an open natural gas flame in it. The bag at the top probably covers what used to be an old vent or something?
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Victorian (probably) bedroom coal fireplace that's been painted over. There's even a few hearth tiles still in front of it. Random image of a restored one: https://www.oldfireplaces.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/256B-1168-1024x7681.jpg https://www.oldfireplaces.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2...

ChristianBundy 7y ago

The first image on this page is goatse and there's no way to report an image. What's your plan for content moderation?

huntie 7y ago

First thing I see is goatse. Nice.

kellygarvy 7y ago

Oh man you may want to make sure you are monitoring for bad actors. Really didn't need to see that before hopping on a call.

ikarandeep 7y ago

NSFW

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

c3534l 7y ago

It's been a long time since I've been linked to goatse.

jberry93 7y ago

I was greeted with an extremely NSFW picture but it seems to be gone for now. Not sure how to guard against that except to be vigilant in deleting such images. Love the website though! Reminds me of /r/battlestations on reddit

benatkin 7y ago
I think it's currently technically feasible on top-of-the-line phones to implement real time nudity detection and hiding by default. I can see it being a solved problem in 5 years. Maybe it will display at first but be blacked out after a few milliseconds.
- vmurthy 7y ago
  I sure hope this blocking thing is opt-in ;-). How will adu.. ahem .. entertainment websites live otherwise ?
  - benatkin 7y ago
    I imagine it will be like SafeSearch on google and bing, where it's opt-out.

dope 7y ago

Sorry for the NSFW image, it's been removed. Also temporarily removed the ability to add a station while I figure out next steps.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

grumpy-cowboy 7y ago

There is a lot of "fake" workstations: everything is so clean! No Fritos bag, no Coke bottles, no paper, no trash, ... just clean desks! Fake! lol :D

DRW_ 7y ago
Not everyone lives like slobs ;)
781 7y ago
Here you go: https://workstation.is/station/4s1IHxshFb4BrTxTHjeG https://workstation.is/station/4s1IHxshFb4BrTxTHjeG
- wafflesraccoon 7y ago
  Did you draw the figure drawing on the wall? It is wonderful.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    It's also kind of NSFW. Hello, haters. A NSFW warning is a detail of etiquette on the internet. It has nothing to do with being judgy about the content. It is solely about protecting someone's job while they surf the internet. Thanks.
daniel_iversen 7y ago
Actually I don’t think that’s the case! I find keeping my workspace relatively beautiful and clean (in my eyes - I’m sure it’s still a little bit messy by some standards) makes me feel better and more productive - and I think there’s science somewhere as well that says that messy work places adds to stress (I think the last place I saw it mentioned was in the book Deep Work, but it’s been known for ages).
hermitdev 7y ago
At a previous job, when I was working on a complete rewrite of a critical backend financial data system for a hedge fund, I had a massive tower of empty mountain dew cans on my desk. It nearly reached the ceiling and was probably around 30 cans at the base. I had to stand on my deal to add new cans. It stood as a monument to all of the sugar and caffeine I consumed on the project (I was planning on taking it down post release). Sadly, CEO was bringing some investors around and was mortified, and I was ordered to take it down. I didn't receive any backlash beyond bring told to take it down. Also, sadly no photos exist as it was against company policy. It Took something around 2.5 50 gallon garbage bags to dispose of. Today, my desk is spotless. Just a notepad and pen on it when I go home at night.

otterpro 7y ago

How do I upload my own setup photo? I see nothing under profile or on the website itself.

dope 7y ago
I had some trouble earlier with people uploading dumb images, so in order to upload images now, you need to verify your email address. There should be messaging at the bottom of the screen and I probably need to make that design clearer.

galfarragem 7y ago

While I think this is cool (workstation porn :), it seems an overkill, you could achieve most (if not all) with a simple tumblr blog/account. Even NSFW upload protection and affiliate marketing. Aren't you folks tired of so many accounts?

vishnuks 7y ago

Awesome. A feature suggestion. Add option for users to enter details of their laptop, keyboard, mouse model etc when they submit the photo. You can probably create a rank list of popular gear from this. Also can link the gear to Amazon and make some money via referral links ;)

technological 7y ago

I wish something like this exists for UI or work bench setup. How people work with different screens and how editor or other tools setup

arendtio 7y ago

I am a bit surprised there is no vertical multi-monitor setup there yet. I have my 2nd monitor above my first since a few years now and I don't want to go back to the traditional horizontal layout. The only thing I might change is adding more monitors or increasing sizes, but that isn't really a priority as I tend to have enough space most of the time. However, I love the idea, of this site as the photos offer a better impression of the work experience in those places (e.g. compared to usesthis.com).

istjohn 7y ago
I tried a vertical monitor for a day once, but I found I ended up holding my head at an uncomfortably high angle too much.
- filoleg 7y ago
  Try using a monitor arm and angle that monitor in such a way at such a height, that you would not have to adjust your head along the vertical axis. It only works with monitors up to a certain size, though, which is the biggest limitation.
- arendtio 7y ago
  Actually, my lower monitor is my primary monitor for my desktop PC. But for a while, I used a similar setup with a Thinkpad as my lower monitor and that worked just fine for me too even though I used the large upper monitor as the primary monitor then.
phyrex 7y ago
Could you explain why you like this better than a traditional multi monitor layout? And how wouldit compare to vertical monitors horizontally next to each other?
- filoleg 7y ago
  For reading longer articles/text or even just code, I prefer it vastly. My current (work) setup is one landscape monitor in the middle and two portrait mode monitors on the sides. The only change I would personally make is add another landscape monitor right above my current one.

alexott 7y ago

It’s interesting to see that’s there are not so much systems with ergonomic keyboards mice... Are people underestimate importance of that?

bsmith 7y ago
I don't use an ergonomic mouse. I am using my keyboard probably ~20x more than my mouse, so it just doesn't seem that important. Mostly I am using my mouse to scroll around and navigate webpages, but when coding it's mostly Vim, tabbing between windows, typing commands in the terminal, etc...
- alexott 7y ago
  it was about keyboard/mice :-) I'm pretty much switching between stuff using keyboard, and mouse is mostly for "fine" scrolling, selection of bookmarks, and links, in most cases just page up/page down
SamReidHughes 7y ago
There are other ways to deal with that, like physical conditioning. Ergonomic keyboards don't cut it when you need to carry a laptop.

pkaye 7y ago

I wish the cabling could be made a little neater with desktop setups. Power cables, video cables, USB cables. I use a KVM so even more cables. Hopefully Thunderbolt/USB4 will simplify things a bit in the future.

sureaboutthis 7y ago

This has been around for years and you'll spend just as long trying to find something worth looking at and, perhaps, replicating. Most of them are just as drab and dreary as you'll find making the site, to some extent, pointless without doing any vetting for something unique.

heroHACK17 7y ago

I love the single-screen setup. I have tried dual-monitors, laptop + monitor, etc., but found that everything else on the screen is just a distraction. Most of the time I'll just work on my laptop or plug in a monitor & close my laptop!

codyb 7y ago
That’s me as well.

chair6 7y ago

Suggestion - one-click navigation from one setup to the next would be nice, instead of having to click back, reload the list, and choose another...

codr7 7y ago

Heh, I feel very tempted to go all in with pictures. After 15 years of using nothing but the latest and greatest, I'm now stuck with a refurbished HP desktop that smells like burned plastic and an arbitrary collection of questionable-quality accessories on top of a retired kitchen table with a garden chair to sit on. And the only thing that really bothers me is that the computer might stop working any second and I can't afford a new one. Life moves in mysterious ways :)

Koshkin 7y ago

Not much to see there... (No wonder, when in a movie they want to destroy a computer, they attack the screen.)

ukyrgf 7y ago

Hey, another site that was built on a Mac and not tested on anything else. So, Avenir Next is not a system font on Windows or Linux. On Windows, this means you get the browser's default stylesheet fallback, which means Times New Roman. So your site essentially looks like a Word 97 document to all your Windows visitors, and who-knows-what on the various Linux distros. Take a look at https://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/system-font-stack/ https://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/system-font-stack/ https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/11/using-system-ui-fonts-practical-guide/ https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/11/using-system-ui-fon... and get yourself looking correct for those non-macOS users! What did you use to build that stylesheet? A framework of some sort?

dope 7y ago
Fixed! Thank you for flagging that. I'm actually just using custom CSS files per component pulling in a global variables.css file.

neoktheone 7y ago

I would like to see likes :)